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October 31, 2013

On the last 9 October the Bosnian FIFA referee has been sanctioned with a 24 months suspension by the disciplinary committee of the Bosnian Football Federation, at the end of the proceedings opened against him, about three months ago.

Alečković has been found guilty of having sent unappropriate text messages to certain students, regarding which he was a mentor.

The sentence can be appealed. On last July, the Bosnian referee was sent home while officiating at the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, following an official complaint by the parentsofone of the students.

October 30, 2013

UEFA have ruled that referee Ovidiu Hategan did follow
protocol when dealing with Yaya Toure's racism complaint against CSKA Moscow. The Manchester City midfielder raised the issue with
the official after being subjected to taunts from home supporters during the
UEFA Champions League fixture between the two sides in Russia last week.

European football's governing body have a three-step
plan to tackle racism, with the second being that a statement should be made
over a public address system once a complaint has been levied to the referee,
before potentially a match being abandoned if such instances continue.

But stage two was not adhered to during the game,
leading to an investigation by UEFA into Hategan's actions.

However, a ruling on Wednesday found the Romanian
official followed guidelines and that the UEFA venue director for the match had
failed to act on the advice and has subsequently been removed from his
position.

UEFA have issued sanctions against CSKA, with parts of
the Arena Khimki set to be closed for their next home Champions League fixture
against Bayern Munich on November 27.

On the Hategan situation, a statement on UEFA's
website read: "The referee (Hategan) immediately asked the fourth official
to request an announcement to be made to the public.

"The venue director (the UEFA officer in charge
of football operations), who had not heard the chanting himself, did not
activate the procedure. As the chanting had ceased, the referee decided to
resume the game with the free-kick.

"The conclusion of the investigation is therefore
that the referee had correctly triggered the first step of the procedure by
requesting the stadium announcement.

"The venue director acted inappropriately, though
in good faith, so causing the failure in the activation of the first step of
the standard procedure, as decided by the referee.

"The UEFA venue director [Peter Palencik of Slovakia] at the Arena Khimki has
been relieved of his duties."

Most of the officials acting in UEFA Champions League belong to the best of the world and proof their courage to take brave and unpopular decisions in almost every match. Referees are humans and naturally make mistakes. That is no problem. If you imagine a weighing scale and then put their mistakes in the one balance pan and the players' mistakes in the other, the arising imbalance should make some players turn pale. It becomes problematic though if referees do not only make match-relevant mistakes, but carelessly fail to fulfill their duties at the cost of players and the game.

October 25, 2013

UEFA is to investigate why its anti-racism protocol was not followed by Romanian referee Ovidiu Alin Hategan during Manchester City's game at CSKA Moscow.City
midfielder Yaya Toure claims he was subjected to monkey chants by some
home supporters during City's Champions League win in Moscow on
Wednesday.

UEFA has already begun disciplinary procedures against CSKA, and now
its president Michel Platini has asked why referee Ovidiu Hategan did
not halt the game according to the organisation's three-point plan.

A statement on the UEFA website confirmed the internal investigation
and added: "UEFA will publish the findings once the disciplinary case
has been dealt with by UEFA's independent Control and Disciplinary Body
on October 30."

The first step in UEFA's protocol for dealing with racist incidents
calls for the referee to stop play and make an announcement over the
public address system. But Romanian official Hategan did not call a halt despite Toure clearly pointing out the alleged abuse from the stands.

The fallout from the incident has been far-reaching, with Toure even suggesting black players could boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia as a protest. He said: "If we are not confident coming to the World Cup in Russia, we don't come.

"I don't know why it happens in football. I don't know why you don't
get something like this in rugby or handball or any other sport. If UEFA
don't take action it will continue."

Toure's stance has received the support of FIFA anti-discrimination
task force member Piara Power, who said: "I wouldn't blame them.

"In this era players are the most powerful force and if all the
players said they are not going there wouldn't be a World Cup, or if
there was it would be meaningless."

CSKA deny any of their fans were guilty of racist abuse, saying in a
statement: "Having carefully studied the video of the game, we found no
racist insults.

"On many occasions fans booed and whistled to put pressure on rival players but regardless of race."

Toure, meanwhile, is preparing for City's trip to Chelsea on Sunday,
and his manager Manuel Pellegrini said: "I talked with Yaya, he is okay.

"I think Yaya did the right thing to say what happened and we will see what UEFA will do about it.

"UEFA is doing a special campaign against the racists and I think
they do the right things for the future not to repeat it, but I don't
know what they are going to do."

October 21, 2013

"Always expect the unexpected" - UEFA Referee Committee have taken this slogan to heart and surprised us with their referee appointments for Wednesday's UEFA Champions League matches. Manuel Gräfe from Germany will face a crucial match at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu between Real Madrid and Juventus Turin under the supervision of Vice Chief Officer Hugh Dallas of Scotland. They furthermore have proven some sense of tact by appointing Irish Alan Kelly for a match in Munich - one of the last chances to bid farewell to UEFA refereeing before he is going to move to the United States.

October 20, 2013

These are the referee appointments made by UEFA's referee committee for the eight Champions League matches played on Tuesday. Among others, Felix Brych has been assigned to take charge of the clash between AC Milan and FC Barcelona, while Viktor Kassai will attend Schalke 04 - Chelsea FC being observed by Vaclav Krondl for the second time within 3 weeks.

October 19, 2013

Certain incidents only happen once in twenty years and as a referee, you very likely experience them never in your entire career. Such an incident has happened in yesterday's Bundesliga match between 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen when pre-selected World Cup referee Felix Brych became the victim of a sudden hole in the goalnet leading to a phantom goal scored by Stefan Kießling.

It was the 70th minute. A Leverkusen midfielder executed a usual corner kick into the centre of the penalty area where Kießling awaited a forceful header that reached the exterior net of Hoffenheim's goal. The ball missed the goal post by a few centimetres. Suddenly, the ball was in the goal. Germany's Referee of the Year 2013 Brych moved towards the midfield indicating "goal". Kießling first reacted in a disappointed way that his header had not reached its target but was then surrounded by his celebrating teammates. No Hoffenheim player realized the situation and easily accepted the decision. Before the kick-off - the last chance for Brych to change his decision - Kießling talked to him and, reading his lips, told him "I believe it reached the exterior net.". Brych showed no body tension, turned pale, confused and unsure but decided to blow the whistle for the kick-off. Later on, substitute players recognized what had happened and presented the hole in the net to the referee, who was totally helpless and, compliant with the circumstances and the Laws of the Game, powerless. Perhaps it was only a coincidence that Brych awarded a wrong penalty kick to the home side after that - the contact even happened outside the penalty area. Having blown the final whistle after the fifth minute of added time, the refereeing team swiftly left the field of play and seemed to exactly know what has happened. Replays have proven that AR2 Stefan Lupp had checked the goalnet before the second half, but did not control the area where the hole occurred.

Brych immediately had the guts to speak to the press - what should be respected - and declared the following in conversation with Sky Sport (record on German):

Dr. Felix Brych, thank you for coming. How did you experience the 70th minute of play?

Brych: "I had small doubts, but the players' reactions were unequivocally clear. There was not any sign that it could have been an irregular goal. And then I allowed the goal."

You had a small dialogue with Stefan Kießling at the midfield circle though. What was the content?

Brych: "In general, it was a pretty surreal situation, because I had doubts, because there was not any contra. And then I have exchanged my doubts with Stefan Kießling - I don't remember the exact words. But nobody has told me - he did not either - that it wasn't a goal. For me it is of course no nice situation either, allowing a goal which wasn't a goal."

Were not your assistant referees able to support you?

Brych: "No, the assistant on the side of the goal could not see that at all and from the midfield line there was not any advice either. From the benches, there was no sign. As said, the ball was in the goal, perhaps with doubts, but for everybody on the pitch it was a regular goal."

Until what moment you could have decided to correct your decision?

Brych: "Until the re-start of play, i.e. the kick-off."

When were you sure that it was no goal?

Brych: "I don't know that exactly, how things developed after that. Now I know it."

Without any doubt, those who are favouring the launch of video evidences in football, are on the march now being fed with new arguments. Among them, there is the former World's Best Referee Dr. Markus Merk who has been supporting this technology for a while. He told Sky Sport that such a device only deployed for such situations could make the game better and solve such problems. Furthermore, he emphasized that nobody had been at fault in Hoffenheim, neither the referees, nor the players.

And he is right. Such a mistake is human. Blackouts happen, specially in such surreal cases. Referees are no perfect robots and can fail in surreal moments. It can happen to everyone. What Brych needs now is a strong DFB and UEFA referee committee who back him in the probably most difficult part of his career. As predicted, there are many signs that indicate his appointment for Real Madrid - Juventus Turin as part of next week's UEFA Champions League matchday 3. A good performance in such a match could be the best recipe to recover from that. This naturally does not put the fact that it was a huge error under a veil.

At the same time, it is not the time for opportunists who try to use the chance to promote the, in my opinion, completely wrong video device in football. Curiosities like this one belong to football and yesterday it was one of the best European referees who was the victim of destiny.

1899 Hoffenheim have already lodged a complaint and aspire a replay match. Brych is surely the last one who would have something against it and as a lawyer by profession, he probably knows that from the legal side this might be possible.

October 18, 2013

Thanks to Árbitro Internacional, the referee appointments for the second matchday of FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2013 are partly unveiled.Craig Thomson of Scotland gets his first match in form of a FIFA tournament for many years when Uruguay and Côte d'Ivoire meet each other at Ras Al-Khaimah.

October 12, 2013

In yesterday's decisive tie between Sweden and Austria who combatted for the runner-up place behind Germany qualifying for the play-off round, Turkish pre-selected World Cup referee Cüneyt Çakır sent off Austria's Marko Arnautovic following a confrontation with Johan Elmander and an alleged headbutt.

How would you have decided? Please answer the poll or place a comment.

October 8, 2013

During the last months one key element of this blog has been educating referees and creating debates on referees' decisions on the basis of video footage. Upon my request, the owner of this footage (UEFA) has disallowed me to deploy this video footage for educational purpose. That's why I must tell you that uploading videos won't be possible in future.

October 7, 2013

This is the second package of
referee appointments for next week's FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifiers in
UEFA zone played on 15 October. The following ties are the last and therefore vitally decisive matches in the group round. The nine group winners will book their ticket to FIFA World Cup 2014 while the eight best runners-up will face a further qualification round based on a home and away match play-off mode.

This post is a part of the section in this blog called "Match Situations" that concentrates on specific match
situations related to parts of the Laws of the
Game. Your participation is crucial to make this blog's
element give some value for referees and football enthusiasts in
general.

October 6, 2013

The following news was provided by the football platform "backpage football" and its author James Clancy: one of the best UEFA First Group referee will leave us. Alan Kelly has decided to become referee in the United States of America.

Following more than 350 matches and 14 years as a League of
Ireland referee, Alan Kelly has decided to bring his whistling skills to
Major League Soccer in the United States.

Kelly took up refereeing in 1994 and joined the Cork Branch of the
Irish Soccer Referees Society (ISRS). He refereed in local leagues
including the Munster Senior League.

He joined the League of Ireland Referees Panel in 1999 while participating in the first FAI Referee’s School of Excellence.

In 2000 he was selected to referee the League of Ireland Cup Final
between Derry City and Limerick City which was the first of four senior
domestic Cup finals he refereed.

He refereed his first FAI Cup Final in 2003 when Longford Town beat
St Patricks Athletic at Lansdowne Road and became one of only a handful
of Irish referees to referee multiple FAI Cup Finals when he took charge
of the game between Sporting Fingal and Sligo Rovers in 2009 at
Tallaght Stadium.

The 38 year-old has been rising up the UEFA and FIFA ranks for many
years now and has been on FIFA’s list of official referees since 2002.

In recent years Kelly has refereed Europa League games, Champions
League group stage matches and some international qualifiers for both
the World Cup and European Championships, as well as weekly League of
Ireland ties.

According to the Irish Daily Star, the Corkman’s potential
income will now increase dramatically. A League of Ireland referee earns
€150 per game, while MLS match fees can rise to as high as $1,100 (or
€810). He will officiate his final game in Ireland this weekend when
Sligo Rovers face Shamrock Rovers in an FAI Cup semi-final.

Whilst working as a referee, Kelly has previously worked as a
personal trainer/fitness instructor/gym manager in his native Cork but
is likely to focus now on refereeing in a full time capacity.

His grandfather and father were both League of Ireland referees and
Kelly has stated in the past that they were both the biggest influences
on his career.

Back in 2006, Kelly handed out five red cards in the space of ten
minutes to Russian players during an U-21 play-off second-leg between
Denmark and the Russians. Kelly states that the spotlight shone on him
in the aftermath of that game was “very unpleasant. All of the red cards
I awarded were correct though.”

Kelly has stated that the highlights of his career so far are: “The
Champions League games were a major high for me: Cluj v Basel,
Leverkusen v Genk, but the Real Madrid game at the Bernabeu will always
stand out. It doesn’t really get any bigger than that in terms of club
teams. It was a fantastic experience and one that, if I never refereed
again, I would look back on for the rest of my life.

“The Spain v Argentina game (back in 2009) is also a career
highlight. Coming face-to-face with one of my heroes, Diego Maradona.
Even to say that, is something that is surreal.”

October 4, 2013

As a plus to our observer reports published during the next days and weeks, the following video clips highlight a couple of controversial decisions concerning the penalty area having been taken - or not having been taken - at the second matchday of UEFA Champions League and Europa League. A short judgment is given underneath every video.

October 3, 2013

In the latest UEFA video message in terms of their Respect Campaign, two high-profile Elite referees are among those protagonists who say "No to Racism". Italian CL 2013 final referee Nicola Rizzoli and World Cup final referee Howard Webb of England are explaining the steps referees are instructed to take as soon as racist incidents occur during matches at UEFA level.

If the referee becomes aware of serious racist behaviour, or is
informed of it by the fourth official, he will, as a first step, halt
the match and ask for an announcement to be made over the public address
system requesting the public immediately stop such racist conduct. As a
second step, if the racist behaviour does not cease once the game has
restarted, the referee will suspend play for a reasonable period of
time, for example five to ten minutes, and request the teams go to the
dressing rooms. A further announcement will be made over the public
address system to the public.

As a third and final step, if the racist behaviour persists, the referee will definitively abandon the match.

October 2, 2013

The so far most controversial situation of the second Champions League matchday happened in Amsterdam last night. Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson or more likely his AAR Markus Strömbergsson awarded a penalty kick in favour of Milan's Mario Balotelli in the final minute of stoppage time.

It was not the only controversy between Ajax defender van der Hoorn and Balotelli.
Therefore please give your opinion and judgment on the following two clips.

October 1, 2013

UEFA has appointed the following referees to lead their teams into Thursday's Europa League matches. Three committee members and further remarkable referee observers ensure that this matchday will be quite interesting from the UEFA refereeing perspective.